This is Halloween
by Dreamer Wolf
Summary: Jack always looked for something new, but now his son is looking to the old ways. The dark past of Halloween is about to be resurrected by a young man where it will threaten not only Jack’s Holiday, but all the others as well.
1. Generational Gap

Summary: Jack always looked for something new, but now his son is looking to the old ways. The dark past of Halloween is about to be resurrected by a young man where it will threaten not only Jack's Holiday, but all the others as well.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the original movie, I do own anything not, including the plot

It's been many a year since that Halloween night

When Christmas was visited by the sultan of fright.

Now the holidays know where each lies and why.

They recognize both joy and screams in the night.

The balance is kept by a council each fall

When the holidays gather one and all.

This truce keeps all the holidays safe

But this year one boy will tip the scales of fate.

**This is Halloween**

**Chapter 1: Generational Gaps**

"Come on Lu, time for bed." Stitched arms prodded the boy or young man rather, in the direction of his bedroom. Dark eyes, so much like his fathers, regarded her for a moment then smiled.

Sally knew her son was too old for such reminders, but she was glad he humored her that much at least. At 17 years old he was looking more and more like his father when Jack had been in his prime. The old skeleton was still as lively as ever, but she could tell that sometimes his bones jostled a little too hard or his ribs stuck when he wanted to play fetch with zero.

Of course, Lu had a bit of her in him as well. He had his father's face, but definitely her taste in clothes. He looked a bit like a scarecrow now she came to think of it.

"Mommy, mommy," a small hand tugged at her arm, snapping Sally out of her musings. If Edgar Allan Poe had decided to design a Raggedy Ann doll, something like her sweet little Molly would have been the product. The child was barely four, but very bright for her age. Sally loved the way her daughter's hair always seemed to drape down in a spider web pattern and the way her stitches sparkled when she was happy.

"Yes, darling, what is it?" Sally asked, scooping the tot into her long arms.

"Daddy home yet?"

"He's meeting with the mayor," Sally answered with a quick glanced at the tall pendulum clock. "He'll be home to tuck you in soon."

Molly nodded and wriggled out of her mother's arms, scampering down the hall. Sally smiled and began collecting her daughter's playthings. An old jack-in-the-box that screamed when you opened it… Seven bits of a spider puzzle stuck in the xylophone… an old book.

Sally paused for a moment and set the puzzle pieces aside to look the book over. One glance told her it wasn't her daughter's book. As bright as she was, molly wasn't reading words quite that long yet. She thought it might be Jack's book. He was the sort to leave things here and there when he was trying to figure something out, but she was sure the book hadn't been there when Jack had left the house after lunch.

It must've been Lu's. She flipped through it curiously. A few rhymes caught her eyes and stirred up old memories. She smiled. It was an old Halloween Town book, almost like a scrapbook of one of the mayors old and tired Halloween plans. She hadn't seen these since before Lu was born. Jack had shaken things up in the old routine immediately following The Christmas Incident.

Lu must've been curious about the Halloweens that had come before his time. Well, maybe that would make him grateful for the Halloween they had now. Sometimes Lu didn't seem as enthusiastic as the rest of them. Oh he liked Halloween fine. He always celebrated and performed with the best of them. He just saw things differently than his father sometimes.

"Dad, the kids are going to jump and then laugh," he'd said last year with the invention of springing pumpkins. "It's not that scary."

"Not everything has to make a child hide under the covers," Jack had grinned. "Sometimes you just want to give them a _fun _scare."

Halloween was always a fun holiday. It was for the children after all.

Sally smiled and put the book away on a shelf. Just as she finished tidying the room, she heard the door open and a deep "I'm home," echo around the house.

Sally gave Jack a peck on the cheek. "Molly's waiting for you," she told him. Jack nodded and stalked off down the hall towards his daughter's room. There was a shriek then a fit of laughter.

Sally chuckled and plopped down with a needle to undo the damage the day had done, tightening a thread here or there.

Jack joined her shortly with a gallon of sour milk, one of his favorite snacks lately. He propped his long legs up and stretched.

"Meeting went well, Jack?" Sally asked absentmindedly.

"Wonderful," Jack grinned. "We're starting a whole new line of candy that will wriggle in your mouth like a live rat. The Mayor was pushing for a few more trapdoors down by the lake and I had to explain, three times mind you, that trapdoors can't be done in water." Jack shook his head with a roll of his eyes. The Mayor certainly kept things interesting.

They exchanged a few more notes about the day, Sally happening to mention the book she'd found lying about. Jack frowned slightly. "I don't understand. We're moving forward. I mean, when I was his age, all I dreamed about was having something new. Lu keeps looking to the past…"

"Sally, I don't want Lu digging in any of the old books anymore," he said firmly. "You were made later so you wouldn't remember, but there was a time when Halloween Town…" he paused. "Let's just say Oogie Boogie wasn't alone in his ways. He survived the years by being one of the tame nasties that stalked the night."

Sally knew what he meant. She'd had a lot of time to herself when she was locked up in her creator's home for poisoning the Doctor or such things. She'd taken much of the time to read and some of the Old Halloween traditions were not things she wanted her son to take an interest in.

"I'll talk to him about it tomorrow," Sally promised.

Upstairs, Lu sat at his rickety desk and tapped a quill against his lips. Sometimes he ran across things that hinted to references of things even older, but in all his studies he ran across a disturbing pattern.

He could find no records of Halloween past a certain date. It wasn't that long ago. Not considering Halloween had been around for centuries. Yet nothing was recorded about those first Halloweens.

Something had to be written. Once in a while he would fine a footnote that cited a document older than the ones he'd looked at. So he knew it was there. He wasn't going to ask his parents. Dad didn't want to hear about anything that was later than the year before and Mom was always on Dad's side.

He'd asked the mayor, but that had been one of the most useless conversations Lu had ever gone through. Between the Mayor's already frayed mind and the fact that he'd managed to get his head stuck sideways so that both sides not only talked at the same time but tried to use the same brain…. He was only Mayor because that's what he was made to be.

Lu snapped the quill down and pushed his notes under the bed. His personal monster-under-the-bed had been on sick leave ever since Lu had accidentally pushed some of his dad's experiments under the bed. The thing had burped green bubbles for a week and then disappeared.

Lu's eyes slowly slid shut… He'd find out what the Town was hiding. Even if he didn't share his father's passions, he had definitely inherited his ingenuity and stubbornness.

Jack would have been proud.


	2. Boogie's Boys

Disclaimer: Lu- Mine. Plot- Mine. Other- Thiers.

**IamtheIinteam**-Thank you for the review. How's this for a quick update? I update faster with review motivation.

**This is Halloween**

**Chapter 2: Boogie's Boys**

By dawn the sound of practice cackles and the slow dull thud of an axe was already ushering in the new day. A few bats slipped down the chimney and hid in Lu's closet. Sally encouraged them to nest there, explaining to Lu that bats were cheaper than mothballs and worked better too.

The leaves on the hangman's tree had begun to shed their swamp green coloring in favor of orange and yellow with occasional streaks of blood red. The time of the Council was close at hand and soon after would follow Halloween itself.

Needless to say, it was the busiest time of year.

"Dear, settle down!" Sally wasn't sure whether to laugh or simply pray her husband didn't try to walk out of a tower window while he was caught up in his preparations.

Lu rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stumbled into the kitchen. Jack strode past on long legs, his arms full of papers. A few fluttered away in the skeleton man's hurry.

Lu picked one up, dark eyes curious. On it were a few notations and scales.

"A house of mirrors, Dad?" Lu asked aloud.

"not quite, not quite," Jack answered, taking the paper from Lu and adding it to his own stack. "You might like this one, actually. We're going to connect our mirrors to the real world. A kid looks in the mirror, a mummy looks back!" Jack grinned.

Lu nodded. Knowing his dad it would only be a brief glimpse of the monster. Maybe later he could talk to his dad about things like _real_ glimpses of teeth or claws in the night. Bring back a little respect to the holiday. Christmas was jolly. Halloween was supposed to be frightening. Sometimes he didn't think Jack ever really let go of his fascination with Christmas.

Still, the mirror idea had potential.

Lu grabbed a slice of moldy bread and a rotten egg, slipping past Sally who was trying to get Molly dressed.

"Heading out, Mom," Lu called. Sally nodded as the door banded shut behind him.

Lu sat down by the fountain near town square. It was the same one his mother had once poured a vat of fog juice into years and years ago. This time there was no fog though, just the crisp wind of autumn rushing past.

"What's up, Pumpkin Prince?"

Lu groaned and turned to face three masks. Lock, Shock, and Barrel let out a trio of giggles. The mischievous children had become mischievous young adults. They still carried their signature masks, the ones that matched their own faces with odd attention to shape and detail, but the large black bag no longer held candy or at least not as much. Not there was also a carton of rotten eggs and a few rolls of TP.

Even as they stood there, Barrel was absentmindedly spray painting a crude drawing of his own grinning face on the fountain's surface.

Lu would never have bothered with them if he didn't have a few things in common with the trio. Mainly the idea that Halloween should be scary. Lu didn't believe half their stories of mischief (there was no way they'd stolen the werewolf's teeth one night and used them to bite the mummy) but they did take pride in scaring people.

Lu's biggest interest in them was that they were born henchman. Once they had been under Oogie Boogie. Well now they were under him. Even if he didn't like the title, Lu _was_ the Pumpkin Prince. One day people would look to him to find out what Halloween would be like that year.

And when that year came, Jack Skelington's son was going to give them a hell of a show.

In the meantime though, he had to deal with the Trio.

"Don't call me that," Lu frowned.

"Sorry _Lucifer_," the witch-masked Shock said with a smirk. "Did his highness get up on the wrong side of the coffin this morning?"

"Nah, he's just impatient to get going," Lock answered. A candy-cane, of all things, was sticking slightly out of his mouth. Lu made a mental not to later ask where he'd gotten it. Cross-holiday trading was kept to a minimum to avoid confusion in the real world.

Barrel capped the spray-paint and just grinned. It disturbed Lu sometimes that Barrel almost looked like he could have been Lu's distant cousin.

Lu nodded to Lock, relaxing a little. "Let's go."

The four of them moved silently down the road towards the old tree house. Barrel ran ahead with Shock and Lock standing on either side of Lu like body guards. It made Lu proud sometimes to think that the Trio answered to him. They didn't even answer the law.

"So you found it?" Lu asked as they ducked inside the dimply lit room. Lock smirked as Shock pulled a black leather bound book from under a damp box of pizza.

"It's his alright," Lock said as he slapped it down on the floor in front of Lu. "But it's in code." The young skeleton dropped to his knees and opened it up.

"The Boogie Man's journal," Lu breathed, a smile creeping over his face. When he'd realized that the Boogie man wouldn't have bothered to obey whatever decree that had obliterated any records of Old Halloween, he'd sent the Trio back down into the layer of their former master to search.

A few seconds inspection told him Lock was wrong. The journal wasn't in code, though it may as well have been. It was in an _old_ form of language. Lu thought he could make out a word here or there, but unless the Boogie man had written an awful lot about pudding in the first few pages, he was going to have to translate the journal with something more accurate than guess-work.

"Good job, boys," Lu said. Shock scowled. "And girls," Lu amended hastily. "This could give us a lot of answers."

Shock grinned and winked at Lock. The two erupted into laughter which Lu barely heard, absorbed in the puzzle of the black bound book.


	3. Tricking Town

Thank you for the reviews. I have a short attention span. The more reviews, the higher the odds I'll stick with this. In the meantime, it gives me something to do in math class.

**This is Halloween**

Ch. 3: Tricking Town

"Come on, Pumpkin Head. Look at the book later. This is boring."

Lu glanced up at Lock who was dangling upside down from a ceiling light. Barrel was busy frying cockroaches with Shock over a blob of lit candle wax. Lunch spanned all day with that boy.

Reluctantly, Lu closed the Journal. He wasn't making a lot of headway as it was. He stretched, pleased to find he could reach further than a month ago. Part of him was hoping to surpass even the height of Jack.

"Well, what do you want to then?" Lu asked, raising his voice a little to drown out the sound of crackling cockroach.

Lock picked up a can of red spray paint and began tossing it from hand to hand. "I hear the mayor's planning to redecorate."

"And we know the vampires and werewolves love red," Shock put in.

"Community service really," Barrel added.

Lu looked between the three of them. Mischief was in their natures. They couldn't help it. Even if their methods had grown up a little, become a little more modern, it was still the same harmless fun.

Besides, the mayor probably wouldn't even notice. Too busy trying to find a way with Jack to include more neon in Halloween.

Lu scowled, and then nodded. "Why not?" he grinned. "After all, there's no Halloween with out a little_ trick_-or-treat."

The trio's infectious laughter caught up with Lu and he found himself grinning as they four of them fled the tree house. They slunk through the town, echoes of muffled cackles lingering behind them.

"Here you go, Prince," Shock whispered as she slapped a can of orange spray paint into his bony palm.

Upon arrival at the mayor's house, the three stuffed Barrel, who still managed to be the smallest of the group despite his appetite, through a tiny bathroom window. He opened the door a few moments later and put a finger to his lips, pointing up.

The mayor must be home upstairs.

Lu hadn't considered that possibility. He found the element of danger made him hesitate, but it also made the game more fun. Yes, this was Halloween. That fear that made everything better in the long run.

On impulse, he lifted his can to the mayor's wall and scrawled out a few words.

**Long Live Halloween!**

Lock, Shock, and Barrel grinned at him and filled in the rest of the same wall around his words with multicolored sharp words: Fear! Night! Teeth! Fear! Blood! Claws! Fear! Fear! FearFearFear..!

Black and purple and red surrounded the orange cry in an almost violent way, swirling until Lu almost felt dizzy looking at it. Heady with the thrill, he raised his fists in the air to silently celebrate.

Unable to help himself, Barrel let out a high pitched giggle. Lock and Shock immediately tried to shove a fist in his mouth each, but the damage had been done.

"Hello?" the mayor's voice floated down the skewed stairs. To Lu's horror, another voice followed the mayor's.

"Who's down there?" the pumpkin king demanded.

Lu grabbed the three and shoved them out the door. None of them stopped running until they were back at the fountain from that morning. There was a few moments' pause, and then the three delinquents burst into laughter. Lu was less amused.

"Oh shut up," he grumbled.

""Come on, that was great," Shock took off her witches hat for a moment, running her fingers through her hair and making it stand wildly on end.

"We almost got caught," Lu pointed out.

"'Almost' never won a rotten pie in the Halloween fair," Lock grinned. "Lighten up, would you?"

"Whatever," Lu shrugged, glancing down at the growing shadows. "Listen, I have to get home. I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow."

"Don't forget this." Barrel tossed him Oogie's book. Lu was about to ask how he'd been carrying it and decided some mysteries weren't worth the answer.

Lu had just stashed the journal under his mattress when he heard Jack arrive home. He crept out of his room and crouched at the top of the stairs, listening hard.

"I can't decide if this was some stupid prank or a real warning of an uprising, Sally." There was a groan from the sofa. "Part of me wants to write it off as something that crooked trio cooked up, but I'm not sure. Of course this kind of this _is_ right up their alley."

"So what's to worry about?" came Sally's soothing voice.

"It's just that usually I can recognize their handwriting at a glance. Besides," Jack's voice turned humorous. "There was a lack of obscenities."

"So they've recruited someone else into their little fold," Sally answered. "That's nothing big. And if it lessens the rude words around town, so much the better."

"But it's a problem," The couch creaked again as though Jack had stood suddenly. Lu could hear the clock of bony feet pacing the floor. "Not everyone in town is happy with the progress we've made in Halloween town. Even more aren't sure why we have to have any kind of relations with the other Holidays, let alone peaceful ones. There are people in this town, dear, that I wouldn't want influencing even Lock, Shock, and Barrel."

"Hi Lu."

Lu nearly fell down the stairs, recovering by windmilling his arms for a few agonizing seconds. When he finally plopped back on his rear, he looked over to his sister looking at him with a small curious smile. Her dark rimmed eyes were open and friendly.

"Lu lu play?" the little rag doll asked hopefully.

"Not now, Molly," he shook his head, trying to hear more of the conversation going on downstairs.

"Pwease?" she pouted.

"Molly, hush," Lu begged. He gave her a gentle nudge in the other direction. "I'll play with you later. I'm, eh, busy right now."

A shadow fell over him. Lu swallowed then turned around with a weak grin. Jack stood on the stairs with an amused expression. "Eavesdropping, are we, Lucifer?"

"Dad, I just, eh-"

Jack cut him of with a wave of his hand. "Regardless, I do need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"You're 17. I've talked to your mother and she's agreed that this year you'll be going with me to the Council."

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	4. Council

Miss me?

Disclaimer: Plot- mine. Lu- mine. Original this'n'that- theirs.

**This is Halloween**

Ch. 4: Council Begins

Lu looked at himself in the mirror, turning this way and that. Sally, always talented with a needle and thread, had fashioned her son a suit fit for a king's coffin. Black satin edged with bone buttons gave the whole thing a feeling of richness.

Lu felt ridiculous. But there was no getting around it. Both Jack and Sally had insisted he attend the council looking his best. Lu might have argued that he didn't want to go to the council in the first place, but decided not to push his luck. He was still wary after almost being caught at the Mayor's.

Zero nudged the door open and floated in. Lu smiled and patted the ghostly canine on the head.

"What do you think, Zero?" Ly spread his arms out, turning to face him. Zero barked and Lu laughed. "Good boy."

There came the sound of an animal screech from outside and something soft and grey banged against Lu's window. Frowning, the boy nudged Zero out of the room and shut the door before throwing open the window. "Can't you three throw pebbles like normal people? Put the cat down, Lock."

"Aw," the youth pouted, but dropped the bundle of fur which went yowling down some alley somewhere.

"What are you guys doing here?" Lu tried to listen to the rest of the house as he spoke to them. If his dad suspected Boogie's boys were part of the new graffiti, he didn't want to remind everyone that Lu was sometimes seen running with their group.

"We wanted to know if we should meet you at the council," Barrel called up with his perpetual grin.

"At the what?" Lu looked down at them in confusion. "You guys can't go."

"You mean we're not invited," Shock smirked. "There's a difference." The three burst into one of their laughing fits.

"Just…no," Lu shook his head. "You guys need to lay low for a few days until the mayor's new paint job is old news. Don't do anything…" He trailed off. For Lock, Shock, and Barrel, _not_ doing anything was suspicious in itself. "Well, TP the wolfman's house then, but no more messages."

The three grinned and assured him they wouldn't dream of it. Lu nodded and shut the window.

He met Jack downstairs where Sally was standing with Molly in her arms. Shifting her daughter to her hip, she began to fuss with Lu's clothes.

"Mom, I've got it," Lu tried to side step her, but she pulled him back and straightened his collar.

"Sally, don't worry," Jack assured his wife. "Lu and I will have a good time and he'll come back to you knowing a good deal more about modern Halloween than he did before.

Lu slumped a little. More 'modern'. He didn't want to change Halloween again, he wanted to see what it was like in its glory days. He nearly said something to Jack about it then, but Jack just pushed him along towards the hearse that would take them to the council.

Lu pressed against the window and watched as they rode past the pumpkin patch and out of town, heading slowly over hills through the deepening woods. At a certain point, Lu thought he could see a flickering of light, but the hearse turned down another path. Suddenly the woods weren't so dense. The trees were tall and straight, letting in sunlight that seemed alien in the way it carried no hint of darkness or Halloween with it.

Jack grinned to see the way Lu was suddenly more alert, more interested.

Out of the woods and onto the top of a hill that was clear of tree, the hearse finally groaned to a stop. Both Lu and Jack were grateful to stretch their long limbs in the open air. Low ceilinged cars were not made for the Skelington family.

Lu turned in a slow circle, looking in all directions for some sign of the other holidays. "They aren't here yet," Jack explained. "I brought us early. Come on. I want to show you something."

Lu followed Jack a little ways into the forest that surrounded them and nodded towards an odd circle of trees. "There's where I first stumbled into Christmas. Go on, have a look." Give Lu a gentle push forward, Jack waited a little ways back.

Knowing his father's almost childish curiosity, it wasn't surprising to Lu that Jack had picked a door that shown with gold and silver decorations. Jack had taught Lu fairly well. He recognized each door. Halloween, of course. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Valentines Day. Easter. St. Patrick's Day. The Fourth of July.

Lu ran a finger along a few of the designs, careful not to even touch a handle. He didn't want to wake up in the middle of red hearts or bright green shamrocks, thank you very much. In his opinion people shouldn't see those colors in such bright shades unless the Trio had spiked the Halloween punch.

"Lucifer!" Jack called. Lu left the trees and rejoined his father. Back near he hearse a red sleigh was pulling up, as was a covered wagon.

"Ah, Jack!" came a robust voice. A fat (there was no other way to say it) man in a large red coat with a full white beard shook Jack's hand warmly.

"Santa," Jack smiled, pushing Lu forward. "This is my son, Lucifer. Or well, Lu I suppose." Lu was aware there was some sort of religious significance with Christmas that might make him uncomfortable with his name, but he didn't really expect the slight start Santa gave when Jack introduced him. It had only been for a moment. He'd have to ask about the details at some point.

"Confound it!" A rather red faced man with an old fashioned musket and a buckle on his black hat was climbing out of the wagon, trying to keep hold of a turkey who clearly did not want to be there.

Jack sighed. "John, did you really have to bring the turkey?"

"Got to, Jack," John of the Holiday Thanksgiving said stoutly, clapping a hand over the bird's beak and tucking the rest of it under an arm. "Traditional. Can't have Thanksgiving without a turkey."

"Sure you can," Santa frowned. "What about all the people who can't afford one?"

"Appearances, Mr. Clause." John insisted. "Turkey's a part of Thanksgiving. Like your north-pole."

"Yes, and you'll notice I left that at home."

"John, come and meet my son!" Jack interjected quickly before things could get further out of hand.

"Hello boy," John shook Lu's hand awkwardly, still fighting the unhappy turkey. "Good man, your dad. Set this whole thing up, what…fifteen years ago? Not bad, eh?"

After that the rest arrived. The Easter bunny, Cupid, a Leprechaun named (of course) Patrick, and a soldier named Yankee who was carrying a stripped flag with a bit of blue and white in one corner.

"Alright, alright," Santa called out to the group once they'd seated themselves in a somewhat circular fashion. The turkey had managed to escape and was pecking at the ground a few yards away, but no one seemed particularly worried. Even John seemed glad for a break. "Let's call this meeting to order, shall we? I think it's cupid's turn to direct, eh?"

The winged cherub nodded and cleared his throat, speaking in a surprisingly clear, if childish, voice. "Last council we discussed improvements for the various holidays and the terms of neutral land. Visitation rights were held until this meeting. I suggest we start there. That is, if there are no problems concerning last year's decisions?"

Everyone agreed and the council proceeded. Lu listened for a while, but became increasingly bored. Jack pushed for full visitation with open trading between the holidays, but a few of the other council members were afraid that would contaminate the individual stance of each.

Patrick began accusing Easter of stealing some of its new designs and the next hour was spent trying to decide which parts of a clover were counted under flowers and which parts were exclusive to St. Patrick's day.

If it took them this long to get through one issue, Lu could understand why councils lasted so long. The shortest had been eight hours and the longest on record was five days. There was a short break for tempers to cool down and Lu wandered back towards the hearse, sitting on the roof where he could watch everyone else.

What a mess.

Holidays weren't meant to interact. That was obvious to Lu. Each should be content with what they were made for. Unfortunately, there were dreamers like his own father who didn't see how much a holiday was worth by itself. Outside influence could only damage it.

"I know it doesn't seem like this is worth it," Jack sighed. Lu turned to him in surprise. Had he said something aloud? No, Jack had doubtless simply read the boredom in Lu's expression. "You're young. You're still full of holiday spirit. But year after year, when nothing changes and you can predict when someone will scream because you've heard it every year for a century… then you'll see why knowing about each other is so important."

Lu doubted it. It was Halloween, after all. Nothing was less predictable. All he had to do was show his father that. Jack looked away and missed the grin spreading across his son's face.

Making Halloween a surprise this year: now that would be fun.

The Fourth of July is mentioned in the original script. Hence why it's here. Personally, I wouldn't have included it. If I've left a major holiday out, forgive me.


	5. Discoveries

I'm not dead.

I know, I know. Not updating in forever was bad. Bad author, no donuts. But I have returned and plan to keep with this story to the end. Unfortunately, I can't quite remember all I had planned but I've got some new ideas too. Reviews/feedback/suggestions are all welcomed.

Disclaimer: All rights are given to respective owners, no money is being made off of this, Lu is mine. Please ask permission before use. Unless it's art. I will love anyone who draws him (or the trio because much 3 for pranks) for me.

Dedicated to Amanda because without her you never would have had another chapter.

And now:

**This is Halloween**

Ch. 5: Discoveries

The council resumed shortly and Lu once again took his place next to his father. Boredom began to creep back in after a mere four sentences and the young skeleton took to amusing himself by watching Santa. The winter holiday was definitely making an effort to keep his familiar shape and had a small tray of sweets next to him, downing a few whenever he wasn't speaking. Despite this, Lu quickly decided Santa was rather intelligent. His leadership probably strung from directing elves all year in toy making and Lu wondered if the man could help him reason with his father.

The idea was dismissed almost as soon as it had come. From what he knew of The Christmas Incident, Santa had been kidnapped and very nearly killed and _still_ had been the second holiday to willingly cross the breach, in fact bringing _snow _to Halloween. No, even if Santa and Jack had their differences, they seemed fairly united when it came to the importance of Holiday interaction.

It was those trees. Lu's eyes turned slightly away from the table, focusing on the doorways to the other worlds. Why were they here in the first place? It made no sense for the holidays to be connected like this. And if Jack had never found them, surely his father's genius and ingenuity would have instead been redirected at his own holiday rather than at others. It could have been so good. Instead of Cupid and a turkey, Oogy Boogy could have been seated there with them, planning. Oogy was sloppy and stupid, but at least he'd know what to do with a visitor: scare him out of his wits.

"-Of course Lu would volunteer!" Jack's voice rang through his head, bringing Lu's attention sharply back to the table. The skeleton king was looking a little disappointed but pleased. The other holidays looked unconvinced.

"Don't you think a more… neutral holiday should be tried first?" Cupid offered diplomatically, a red pen paused above pink paper where he'd been keeping notes.

"Aye, or at least one that would blend in," John added bluntly, trying to pull the turkey away from nibbling on the candy in the Easter Bunny's basket. "Your boy there would cause a riot if he went strolling around town."

Jack's smile turned around into a deep protective frown. He glanced down at his son and opened his mouth to retort as Santa stepped in. Lu noted with interest that when Santa spoke, most of the others fell silent and respectful. The turkey was still squawking of course, but there was no helping that.

"Now we all know Jack has earned the right for his holiday to try this. It was his idea after all, as was these meetings. And Jack," here Santa turned to the skeleton, eyes friendly but firm, "You know how delicate something like this is. You want your project to succeed, don't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then you're going to have to accept you may not be the front runner for all encounters. If we establish do manage to establish visitations between holidays, it is important the citizens manage to accept the transition as much as the heads of Holidays do."

Oh. So that was what this was about. The topic of visitations had come up again and while Lu was day dreaming his father had volunteered him for a test subject. Lu was rather annoyed, but grudgingly realized his father probably assumed he'd _wanted _to go. God knew Jack himself had been itching to explore the other holidays himself. It was touching in a way. He still didn't appreciate being volunteered without being asked though.

"Dad," Lu spoke up, laying a hand on his father's arm to get his attention. "They're right. You need to take this a little at a time if you want it to work." _And I don't really care what the other holidays are like_, he added silently.

'Throw yourself in headfirst' had always been Jack's motto, but looking at his expression Lu could tell he'd won. The Pumpkin King was happy enough that his son had even shown an interest in the idea working that he was content for the moment to let the others sort it out.

In the end, it was decided the first visit would be between Valentines and Christmas since the culture shock would hopefully be minimal. A couple of lower ranking cupids would help the elves for a few days after Christmas when it would be less busy in the workshop and at the same time a few elves would take the place of love's messengers. Details weren't discussed since the problems would only deal with those particular holidays.

It had been eight hours since they'd arrived and candles were being lit around the table, the ones near Jack and Lu standing out as the only black candles. Others ranged from plain white (near Christmas) to outrageously bright swirls (Easter) to decidedly annoying (the candle Yankee pulled out kept shooting off mini sparks in the growing darkness).

"Are we going to be here overnight?" Lu asked his father to the side, skull propped up on one boney hand as he suppressed another yawn. At least now he could blame them on the late hour and not the dragging meeting. The holidays were now discussing the growing black market of trading between the holidays, most of which seemed to be blamed on Halloween and Thanksgiving, though a fair amount had been slipping through to the Fourth of July as well.

Halloween was the next holiday scheduled to occur and there was a lot of work to do before it was ready. Especially with the plans Lu had running through his mind. There wasn't enough time to make it big, but it would serve as a test. Then he could have the entire year to build up something that would shock his father and the rest of Halloween into remembering what the time was _about._

"It looks like it's going to continue another night," Jack said as he tried to stretch his old bones discreetly. "Do you want to go home? It'll probably wrap up by morning and there's no sense in keeping you awake."

Lu nodded, completely bored with the conversation going on around him. Besides, if he wanted to ask about the black market, all he had to do was find Lock and ask where he'd gotten that candy cane he'd seen in his mouth the day before. A small smirk lit his face at that, but Jack didn't appear to have seen.

"Alright. Take the hearse back. I can walk in the morning or get a ride..." Jack's face suddenly turned to a pleased smile and Lu could almost see Jack riding into town on the covered wagon or floating on a borrowed pair of cupids wings. That last image in particular was almost enough for him to offer to walk himself and leave the hearse for Jack but he wasn't confident he could find his own way back.

Lu excused himself politely from the table, the other Holidays wishing him goodnight and the Easter Bunny shoving a basket of chocolate at him for the ride before he could refuse. He waved briefly until the clearing was out of sight and then collapsed back against the seat with a groan. The hearse steered itself along dutifully with no prompting from Lu and he'd nearly fallen asleep when a violent bumping on the roof of the hearse jolted him awake. A bit disoriented from his near sleep, Lu blinked and had to shake himself to realize that something heavy had just landed on the hearse's roof.

A wide grinning face poked in through the window and Lu chuckled. "Let me guess… just because I said don't come to the council, you decided that didn't include _near _the council." Barrel's only answer was to awkwardly climb through the window, tumbling to the floor at Lu's feet.

"And that's why everyone loves you, Pumpkin Prince," Shock said as she slid in the opposite window, patting Lu on the head condescendingly. "So quick on the uptake." She put her feet up so they were sticking out the window, hands comfortably behind her head.

"What the hell is this crap?" Lock asked, his demon mask pushed to the side. He was still halfway through the window, having used the same one as Barrel. One foot in the door and he'd managed to step on the Easter Basket, squishing a good bit of the candy inside. Making a face he lifted his foot and drug it down the side of the nearest seat making a large chocolate stain. Sally wasn't going to be happy.

"It's candy, you moron," Shock answered lazily, rolling her eyes. "You get thicker every year, I swear."

"Listen, thunder-butt, I-"

"What are you all doing here?" Lu asked, trying to stop one of the inevitable fights. Or at least keep it at bay until after he found out what they were up to. The trio was inseparable yet spent most of their time together fighting. It was strange but something you had to get used to in order to tolerate the three's presence for any length of time.

"Why the pleasure of your company of course," Lock answered, grinning devilishly as he sprawled out next to Lu, half crushing Shock as he did so. Lu raised an eyebrow and the young man relented with a shrug. "Or maybe we wanted to show you… this."

The triumphant faces around him made Lu wary but curious as Lock pulled from behind his back a few grimy pages of what looked like parchment, a distinct stench of decay replacing that of melted chocolate. Boney fingers reached out and delicately took the pages, dark eyes scanning them carefully before a shadow passed over his face.

"Where did you get these?" he demanded. Lock rolled his eyes, unimpressed at the dangerous look Lu was giving him.

Barrel was the one who answered. "The Mayor's house. Duh." The boy had always been a bit slower than the others, but even he should have recognized that this was the wrong answer.

"What part of 'lay low' didn't you all get?" he grimaced, eyes turning back to the page in front of him. The town's official seal was at the top and beneath it "Official Amnesty for Crimes previous to the Halloween Revolution offered to the following individuals. Official amnesty offered to-" The list of names was long and a bit surprising in parts. Doctor Finklestein and Igor along with Oogy Boogey and one or two of the vampires he'd seen around. Some names he didn't recognize but he was pretty sure two belonged to the musicians he'd seen around the streets and the eldest of the witches.

"What is this?"

"Dunno," Lock answered, amusing himself by watching Barrel lick at the chocolate stain and then pick bits of fuzz of his tongue. "But you're always looking for old crap. This was the oldest thing in his study. And Oogy's name was on it so…"

Lu was annoyed at the short attention span, but at least they'd done something useful when they'd ignored his orders and broken into the mayor's house again. It had probably just been vandalism, but he was glad Lock, Shock, and Barrel had at least attempted to make it up to him. They'd probably done the same with Oogy Boogie. Now if only the actual crimes had been listed… he was particularly interested in the mention of 'Halloween Revolution.' What was it? And which side had won enough to give the others amnesty.

Something he'd overheard Jack say about Oogey 'surviving by being one of the more tame' flew across his mind. This definitely had to do with _Old_ Halloween. He allowed himself a grin. "Good job, boys and girls. Come on. We've got work to do."

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